In a landmark judgment, a Chhattisgarh court in Korba has sentenced five men to death for the 2021 gangrape and murder of a tribal girl and the killing of two of her family members. The horrific crime targeted victims from the Pahadi Korwa tribe, part of India’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG).

The convicts, identified as Santram Manjhwar (49), Abdul Jabbar (34), Anil Kumar Sarthi (24), Pardeshi Ram (39), and Anand Ram Panika (29), were found guilty of the brutal assault and murders. A sixth accused, Umashankar Yadav (26), was sentenced to life imprisonment as the rape charge against him could not be proved.

The crime occurred on January 29, 2021, in Korba district. Manjhwar lured the victim and her family with a ride on his bike, separating them into two groups. Instead of taking them home, the men took the girl, her father, and a toddler to another village, where they drank and later gangraped the girl in front of her father. They then stoned the father and toddler to death. The girl, found unconscious four days later, died en route to the hospital.

In her ruling, Additional Sessions Judge Mamta Bhojwani described the act as “inhuman and cowardly” and said it shocked the conscience of society. Given the “extremely perverted and gruesome” nature of the crime, the court deemed the death penalty necessary to deliver justice.

The judgment has been lauded as a strong message against crimes targeting vulnerable communities, while also highlighting the urgent need for societal and systemic change.